Michelle DeRusha's Blog, page 52

Not Okay with “Okay” {and an opportunity to receive a signed book plate for Spiritual Misfit!}

A few years ago a literary agent turned me down after he read my query letter and a couple chapters of my manuscript. After I received the rejection, I responded to his email with a question. “So is it the lack of platform,” I asked him, “or the quality of the writing…or both?”

He answered quickly. “To tell you the truth, Michelle, it’s both,” the agent wrote. “You don’t have a strong enough platform yet, but the bigger issue right now is your voice. Your writing is okay, but your voice needs...

Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: From Far to Near

We are enjoying a bit of Lenten quiet on Mondays here until Easter. I’m posting a verse, a devotion and a prayer. Peace and grace, friends…

But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.(Ephesians 2:13-4)

Some of yo...

Weekend One Word: Blessings

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Working For It, A Story From A Recovering Spiritual Misfit

I am delighted to welcome friend and fellow writer Kris Camealy to the blog today as part of my “I am a Spiritual Misfit, I am His Beloved Misfit” series. As I’ve gotten to know her better and better over these last few months, I’ve come to realize that Kris and I have far more in common than our Catholic background. I see so much of myself in the honest words she writes here today. And if you haven’t yet read her beautiful book, Holey, Wholly, Holy: A Lenten Journey of Refinement, get yourse...

When You Write the Book You Need to Read

My dad is reading Spiritual Misfit. He called me yesterday to tell me he’s on chapter seven, and that he’s only reading one chapter a day in order to savor it. Isn’t that sweet? He said he loves it. Of course, he has to say that, right, because he’s my dad?

But my dad also told me that this is the book he needed to read several years ago, when he was lost and floundering and struggling to make sense out of the mystery of faith. Those words? They took my breath away, because I know exactly what...

Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: Wisdom from Above

We are enjoying a bit of Lenten quiet on Mondays here until Easter. I’m posting a verse, a devotion and a prayer. Peace and grace, friends…

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace-loving, gentle at all times and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.(James 3:17-18)

When we think of the typical attributes of w...

Weekend One Word: Pleasing

With Sandra and Deidra.

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For When You Splinter into Two Different Versions of Yourself {I am a Spiritual Misfit series}

Today I’m launching a new #SpiritualMisfit series here on the blog. Every Friday I’ll welcome a writer to consider the topic “I am a Spiritual Misfit, I am His Beloved Misfit.” I first met today’s guest writer, Dawn González, in person several years ago at the first Christian conference I’d ever attended, Deeper Still. To say I was a duck out of water that weekend would be an understatement, but I still remember how gracious and authentic Dawn was – she was (is!) the real deal. In this piece...

We Need YOUR Story {the 2014 inRL Conference}

As we inch closer to publication day for Spiritual Misfit, I’ve been hearing one question in particular. People are curious if I’ve always wanted to be a writer and if I’ve always wanted to write a book.

The answer is no.

The truth is, eight years ago when I trudged down to our basement office before dawn and put my fingers to the keyboard, I hadn’t a blessed idea a book was about to be born. In fact, I didn’t realize I was writing a book until about 75 pages in, when it suddenly occurred to me...

Spinning Cartwheels, Tap Dancing, Shouting from the Rooftops: Love Idol is Here!

I know Mondays are typically devoted to the Hear It, Use It community around here, and we’ve been spending these last three Lenten Mondays a bit more quiet than usual. But. Sometimes you have to take a break from all that solemnity to jump and shout and hang by your knees from the jungle gym! Today is one of those days. Jennifer Dukes Lee releases her first book, Love Idol,to the world today, and there’s just no way I can be quiet or solemn or devotiony about that!

I’ve read Love Idoltwice thr...